cooking with love and affection…

Easy Spinach Lasagna

I have been making this lasagna for years! It was the first thing of my mother’s that I learned to cook. Back then, it felt like a huge task to make this dish, and a wonderful accomplishment when the lasagna came out of the oven bubbling, cheesy, and appetizing! Now, this lasagna is something that I “have-in-the-bag”. I can make it with little effort! I decided to make this lovely layered pasta dish because soon we will be enjoying the feast of Christmas, and lasagna is not on the menu for our holiday dinner.

This lasagna is designed to be easy, quick, and flavorful. I use store-bought spaghetti sauce to cut down on the preparation time, though I think it would be amazing to make your own sauce from scratch. I also use frozen chopped spinach for the same reason. After cooking the lasagna noodles, assembling it, you can just pop it in the oven and forget about it for an hour. During that time, the house starts smelling of cheesy, saucy goodness!

Adam loves my spinach lasagna and I love making it for him. It tastes just like my mother’s!

Spinach Lasagnaby Anne12 lasagna noodles 1 -1 1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce2 -3 cups of ricotta cheese1 package frozen spinach, defrosted1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese1 tsp onion powder1 tsp garlic powder1 eggPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions to just before al dente. You’ll want to make sure the noodles still have a little “bite” to them because they will continue to cook in the oven. Drain and let rest in the colander until cool enough to handle.

Spoon 1/4 of sauce into bottom of the baking pan. Place 3 lasagna noodles lengthwise on top of sauce, and one at the end crosswise and trim. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/3 of cheese and spinach mixture over noodles, top with 1/4 of sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with noodles and sauce. Sprinkle a little bit of mozzarella on top, reserving the rest of the mozzarella cheese for later.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes uncovered to brown-up the cheese slightly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy with garlic bread!